More than thirty-five years ago when I first read Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life, I remember the feeling that washed over me when I read her guidance, “wear clothes that make you feel good; eat foods that make you feel good; be around people who make you feel good; go at a pace that makes you feel good.”
Whoa… “Go at a pace that makes you feel good.” Isn’t that a beautiful idea? That’s your provocation for the month! Mine too.
At the end of December, I left my job to run my speaking, training, coaching business (Programs That Uplift) full-time 😊. Then, after the Universe had been giving Chris (my significant other), consistent but gentle nudges… then bigger and louder “pushes,” he left his job of 22 years (right before the company “did away with” the rest of the entire mental health case management arm of the company!).
We both feel really grateful for the gifts we received from our previous jobs, but even more so for the gift of our new paths! And both of us have been talking about how happy we are to be able set our own time for doing things. Ahhh… the gift of time affluence!
But…
Instead of feeling rich with time, we have both become wildly aware of our habit of “hurrying.” Even when we don’t need to!
So, we made a little pact to remind each other throughout the day that we’re allowed to relax and go at a pace that makes us feel good. And my big aha has been that whether we have a job, or a family, or business obligations, or any of the other zillion things we all have to do… it’s a myth to think, “When such and such is done (my job, raising my children, caring for aging parents, completing a business project, etc.) THEN I can go at a pace that makes me feel good.”
It’s a myth because 1. We don’t have to wait until something is completed in order to CHOOSE to go at a pace that makes us feel good. And 2. Often even when we DO complete something or DO have extra time, we still don’t choose to go at a pace that makes us feel good. (Wouldn’t it be great if no one could relate to this?)
Want to shift that? What are you doing today? Decide right now – even just for the next few minutes – to go at a pace that makes you feel good. For me, that usually means to slow down and take a breath. How about for you?
Hurrying never makes me go faster anyway. It just tightens me up and causes me to make mistakes and fogs my thinking and makes my actions less graceful, less effective, less creative, and less satisfying. And mostly… hurrying takes me out of alignment with my powerful, loving, wise Universal/spiritual connection.
So, your self-love practice this month is to go at a pace that makes you feel good even if you’re sure you don’t have enough time to do that. I’ll be joining you. And little by little we can shift our habits into actions that are powerfully healing, loving, and kind to us. (That’s when we can more easily spread our good out into the world anyway. I love how the Universe works like that!)
If you’d like some more practice with being kind to you, join me March 7th at 7pm EST for my online program “Self-Love as Spiritual Practice.” It’s free and open to anyone: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/self-love-as-spiritual-practice-tickets-494627422937